By Martin Smith at Chelmsford

Essex (438 & 99-3) beat Somerset (433 & 99) by seven wickets

Points: Essex 22, Somerset 6

Twenty-year-old Charlie Allison kept his head during an otherwise nervy hour and a quarter as Essex claimed a seven-wicket victory to round off the Rothesay County Championship season.

  Allison, one of Essex’s stand-out performers during an otherwise disappointing season, finished the game with a second six off Jake Ball over long leg. He was 32 not out from 34 balls as Essex reached their target of 95 from just 18.4 overs.

  Lewis Gregory had given Somerset some hope by removing Dean Elgar and Tom Westley inside the first six overs before taking the catch in the deep to end Paul Walter’s tone-setting innings. Walter, a first-innings centurion, had amassed 30 from 31 balls when he departed with 39 runs still required.

  The Somerset captain was fired up in the face of desperate odds against and caused jitters in the Essex ranks as he repeatedly beat the outside edge of the bat. He bowled through unchanged and was rewarded with figures of 2-43 from his nine overs.

  For two-and-a-half days it looked like the game would peter out into a tame draw with handshakes accepted in mid-afternoon with the curtain brought down on a forgettable Championship season for both sides. However, that was before Jamie Porter initiated a collapse of monumental proportions amid the gloom of a day-three afternoon and early evening.

  Essex had subsided themselves earlier in the day from an overnight 295-2 to 438 all out and a nominal lead of five runs. But in 34 overs reminiscent of some of Essex’s glory years of the recent past, they rolled Somerset over for 99 with Porter taking 4-18 and falling just one wicket short of another 50-wicket haul for the season.

  Essex had already confirmed their Division One survival during this final match while Somerset had settled for the no-man’s land of mid-table. Three successive wins in May had even suggested a title challenge that did not materialise.

  However, with  all day to knock off the runs, a modicum of tension was introduced in only the second over. Having put on 277 for the first wicket in the first innings, the opening partnership lasted just seven balls. Elga departed for a golden duck, rapped conclusively on his front pad by Gregory without getting anywhere near the ball.

  Westley withstood the rest of a torrid over from Gregory but got off the mark with a characteristic drive through midwicket for four off Craig Overton. He followed that with an emphatic pull through midwicket off Gregory for a second boundary before he, too, fell to the same bowler.

  After putting on a run-a-ball 28 with Walter, Westley nibbled at one outside off-stump and wicketkeeper James Rew dived in front of first slip to claim the catch.

  Walter had been busy turning twos into threes to the extent that Essex reached fifty from just nine overs when Charlie Allison walked down the pitch and smashed Overton through extra over for four. 

  Overton had been relatively expensive, his five overs costing 25, but his replacement Ball struck with his first ball when Walter went for a big heave and paid the price.

  Allison made sure the target came down quickly and deposited Ball over long leg for six to take Essex within two runs of the target and then repeated the act to complete the victory.

Essex take an emphatic final day victory in the County Championship as Allison hits one into the river.

Lewis Gregory has his second of the morning, finding the edge of Westley and Rew takes a comfortable catch!

Early wicket for Somerset! Lewis Gregory pins Elgar LBW first ball.

We are out there for the FINAL time in 2025!

Essex are offering free entry for today which is a great initiative! 

Welcome to the FINAL day of County cricket in the 2025 season.

Essex will need 95 to win when play begins at 10:30 am.

Jamie Porter ripped through some fragile batting with four wickets to help skittle Somerset for 99 and put Essex on course for only their second home Rothesay County Championship victory of the season.

Ably supported by debutant seamer Charlie Bennett, and latterly spinner Simon Harmer, Porter took his season’s tally to 49 wickets with figures of 4-18 from a dozen overs. It left Essex requiring 95 to win before bad light ended play on day three 17 overs early.

At one stage, when Dean Elgar and Paul Walter were putting on 277 for the first wicket the day before, it had looked as if Essex would gain a sizeable first-innings advantage. In reality, that lead turned out to be just five runs as they lost all 10 wickets for an additional 161 runs inside 45 overs. But that was before Somerset went in for a second time.

Much of the damage in Essex’s first-innings 438 was down to some naggingly accurate bowling from Craig Overton, who passed 500 first-class career wickets while posting figures of 6-88. What had been a docile, one-paced wicket suddenly turned into a seamer’s dream and Overton capitalised with his second six-wicket haul of the season.

Essex’s seamers were also quickly among the wickets in Somerset’s second innings. Porter beat Archie Vaughan for pace and then Bennett had Tom Lammonby lbw to one that stayed low.

James Rew appeared to be repairing the initial damage, harvesting four boundaries in his run-a-ball 19, until he skied a leading edge to midwicket off Bennett. Then in the next over, Tom Kohler-Cadmore may have lost the ball in the gathering gloom as Doug Bracewell bent back his off-stump. The floodlights came on soon after.

Josh Thomas had been immune to the carnage around him, hitting seven fours in his 39 from 65 balls, but he became Porter’s 550th first-class wicket for Essex when one kept low and trapped him lbw. In the same over, Kasey Aldridge tickled one through to substitute wicketkeeper Simon Fernandes.

With Somerset disappearing down a rabbit hole at 89-6, Essex announced free admission for all spectators on the final day. Overton then made a swift exit, playing all around one from Porter. And it became worse when Jack Leach set off for a run, pushing Porter into the covers, but could not recover his ground before Charlie Allison’s throw enabled Fernandes to whip off the bails.

Lewis Goldsworthy dug in for 58 balls, but he was undone by a spectacular delivery from Simon Harmer that pitched well outside off-stump and turned square to bowl him. And Jake Ball followed to one from the spinner that went straight on and disturbed his stumps. Somerset all out inside 34 overs.

Under dirty grey clouds in the morning, things had looked brighter for Somerset when Overton claimed a second wicket in 10 balls, separated by overnight rest and recuperation. He dug in a short delivery and Tom Westley hooked obligingly to deep square leg.

Elgar lasted just another half-an-hour. He added just seven runs to his day-two total before he was lbw for 118 playing all around the second ball of an Aldridge spell.

Overton, returning for another spell with the second new-ball already four overs old, struck with his 13th delivery, slanting one in at pace and flattening Allison’s middle stump.

Lewis Gregory had looked the most lively of the Somerset attack, beating the bat on a number of occasions, and finally received some reward, Matt Critchley lbw playing down the wrong line.

On the stroke of lunch, Michael Pepper became Overton’s fifth victim when he was lbw trying to force the ball through midwicket.

Gregory lasted eight deliveries in the afternoon session before pulling up injured and briefly leaving the pitch. He, therefore, missed Overton’s sixth wicket when Bracewell looked to swing lustily to leg but ended up dollying a catch to wide mid-off.

Bennett produced some aggressive hitting with five fours in a 26-ball 22 before he gave a tame return catch to Leach. Porter smashed his first ball straight for six to take Essex into the lead but perished when he skied Leach into the covers.

The umpires have decided no play will be possible this afternoon.

Essex will need 95 to win tomorrow morning.